


I can't believe it's not computers

by SayNevermore



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Based on a Tumblr Post, Fluff and Humor, Hardware Store/Sex Shop, M/M, Sexual Humor, no actual sex happening in this fic just a lot of discussions about sex toys
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-04
Updated: 2018-06-04
Packaged: 2019-05-18 07:17:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14848190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SayNevermore/pseuds/SayNevermore
Summary: Prompto decided to build his computer from scratch, unaware that the hardware store he orders everything from covers for a sex-shop.Noctis, his neighbour who keeps receiving the packages by mistake, definitely knows.





	I can't believe it's not computers

**Author's Note:**

> [The original post where I got this idea is here.](https://domesticfluffsimulator.tumblr.com/post/162388469936/phaeleah-so-heres-another-au-idea-since)  
>  I thought this would be a great excuse to write smut and then I ended up with 18 pages of fluff. In the end this was just an excuse to write about geeks being geeks.  
> Have fun!

For his twentieth birthday, Prompto had been offered a small flat, money, and a brand new computing mainframe.

The flat was mostly because he needed a spot closer to the university if he didn’t want to wear himself out after two months. He would have been satisfied with a square room and a shitty bathroom, but, his parents being the kind of people that they were, they put him into a luxurious square room with a pretty decent bathroom. He moved out at the beginning of the holiday, convincing them that he could get familiar with the surroundings before classes started. 

But really, he just wanted to be alone as fast as possible.

His old computer was fine, and still efficient enough compared to its age—Prompto had taken good care of the components. But now that he had his own apartment, the temptation to build himself a complete, high-tech gaming station was too strong to ignore. 

He had spent months coming up with the perfect configuration, all carefully detailed on a list. But he didn't trust his parents with the delicate parts, so he only asked for the plastic box and money for the rest.

His part-time job at the impression booth of his university brought barely enough for his rent and food, but his parent also helped with that and he also hoped for a little spare money at the end of the month if he laid down on the nocturnal excursions to the Crow’s Nest when he didn’t have food in the fridge. He was supposed to watch his diet anyway.

The first piece he ordered online was the motherboard. He had noticed it by the window of the hardware store on the way to his job but talking to a real-life cashier demanded too much of his energy so he used their website instead. He received an e-mail when the package arrived and when he got home, found a guy at his doorstep.

The guy looked nothing like a delivery man. Dark hair, black clothes, a lean body but unsure attitude and he turned to Prompto with an embarrassed smile. 

“Uh, are you the guy from flat 15A?”

He was holding a large brown box. Prompto nodded.

“Argentum, right? I saw your name on the mailbox… I’m the guy from 15B. I think you got the letter wrong on the box… here.”

He gave him the box with an almost ceremonious gesture and Prompto felt almost embarrassed by himself for just standing here. He nervously wrapped his fingers around the cardboard.

“Oh… sorry, I’m sorta new here, I still haven’t got the stuff memorized…”

“Yeah I figured. It’s alright. Just be careful, you don’t want that kind of stuff falling into the wrong mailbox.”

“Sure.”

Prompto was about to turn back inside when he heard the next words.

“First time you’re alone? In your apartment, I mean?”

He blinked. Was that guy making conversation?

“Huh… yeah, I mean, I lived with my parents ‘till now but it’s a bit far from campus so…”

“Yeah I get it. Well, good choice. It’s nice here. Huh, real quiet. And… soundproof, also.”

“Oh, that’s… cool.”

Not that Prompto was particularly noisy when he played – he used his headset and had learned over the years to control the volume of his voice when he was getting excited. But it was good to know he wouldn’t bother that guy in the middle of the night.

“So, I’ll… herm… leave you to that.” The guy gestured at the box one last time before tucking his hands into his pockets. Prompto barely managed to wave a hand before he had turned away, and Prompto heard him open his door as he was closing his. 

Shit, he had been terrible. That was terrible human interaction, right?

*

Prompto had a lot of friends. Online friends. People were always nicer online. They let him ramble for hours about photography, camera performances or gaming strategies, they even joined him; and when he started feeling a bit down in the middle of the night, there was always someone else up at the same time, someone who lived far away or just couldn’t sleep like him, small green dot shining in the dark. He didn’t need to pretend all the time. It was comforting.

Talking to people face to face was a whole other story. Everything about them was so distracting, and they were looking right at him waiting for an answer, and there was only so many times he could resort to vague hums and body language, at some point he had to actually open his mouth, and he had to think fast about what he had to say because they were obviously waiting for him, expecting him to be focused on them, and it only made his brain freeze and his sentences come out bad.

*

He wanted to take things slow and really appreciate the wait but a week later, he couldn’t hold it anymore so he ordered the PSU and spent his friday night observing it like it was some kind of trophy. 

He waited two other weeks to order his RAM modules. He was inside his flat scrolling his phone while drinking coffee when someone knocked at his door. He almost pulled the door off its hinges trying to open it as fast as possible.

On the other side, his neighbour jumped.

“Woah,” he laughed nervously. “That’s the fastest I’ve ever seen anyone open a door.”

“Oh,” Prompto said. Of course. On second thought, it was weird that the mailman would knock directly on his door, they would rather ring the doorbell from the entrance of the building, but Prompto didn’t really think this through. He was just too excited. “I thought this was…”

Then he noticed the package in the boy’s hands.

“Aw, shit. I got the address wrong again?”

“Yup,” the guy answered, pressing his lips together. 

“Sorry… I ordered from my PC… I have the autofill memorized like that now, I didn’t check…”

“It’s alright, just… double check next time? I mean, it's for you I say that…”

He had a strange smile while he talked, but Prompto couldn't understand what it meant and filed it under the things to worry about last - he had enough to do as it was. He thanked the guy for bringing in the package and almost closed the door on his face. His computer couldn't wait.

*

To be perfectly honest, Prompto wasn't much of a people's person, no matter the attempts of his parents to pressure him into having a social life or even the therapists sessions when he was a kid. He went to school and was nice to his colleagues at the impression booth but never accepted the invitations to go out. He was much more comfortable in the quiet of his room with his machines. But at some point around twelve his parents managed to convince him to go jogging around the neighbourhood once a week instead of locking himself up and, against all odds, he developed a real taste for it. When running, you didn't have to talk to people and you could fake exhaustion if they tried anyway. 

He noticed his neighbour a few times on campus, sometimes talking to people but often alone, and the part of his brain that had been taught how to behave told him to go talk to the guy, but in the end, he didn't. 

He was coming back from his weekly jog when the postman brought him the fan he had ordered, and he was signing the receipt in his sweat-drenched hoodie when his neighbour walked past, eyed the package in his hand, and raised both eyebrows.

“Man, really?” he asked. 

Prompto frowned. What was wrong this time? Was he really judged by his neighbour for being a geek?

“It's a really good one,” he said, biting his lips before he started bragging about the quality warranty of the brand.

“I'm sure it is,” the guy said, sounding unconvinced. 

Before Prompto could add anything, he was out and the postman had left. 

See this was why he didn't talk to people. The more he tried to share his interests, the more he saw conversations fall short. Nobody cared about the brand new machine he was building, so he just stayed with his machine and didn't talk to anyone.

*

A week later, the guy entered the impression booth and walked straight towards him. 

“Hello,” Prompto said, smiling instinctively, “how can I help you?”

“Okay dude,” his neighbour hissed at him, blue eyes piercing into his, “you gotta stop.”  
Prompto blinked. Luckily there weren’t many people around at this hour, but he still verified that no one could really hear what was obviously going to be his neighbour scolding him. Then he made a tentative smile.

“Stop what?” he asked, although he was pretty sure he knew what the guy was referring to.

“I… Listen, I really don’t care what you do in your own flat, that’s your private life—I get it, mom and dad aren’t around, you wanna enjoy it—whatever. Just. You can’t keep putting my address on those packages and let me retrieve them when I’m with friends, it’s just… dude. We don’t even know each other. That’s just weird. I can’t believe I actually have to say it.”

Prompto swallowed hard. He was technically at work, even though he was bored as hell. He was supposed to keep his professional face on, not start tearing up because… wow, that guy was rude? Prompto knew that he was a nerd and that it made a lot of people uncomfortable talking to him. But it wasn’t like he had actually rambled about hard drives for one hour with that guy; he just accidentally sent them to his address.

“I’m sorry…” he finally mumbled, trying to not sound annoyed. “You know you can just leave them on my doorstep if it’s bothering you so much…”

“And another thing.”

Prompto gulped at that. Why was this boy so angry at him?

“I’m… I’m not gay, okay?”

For a second, Prompto felt like he had stepped into another reality, or spaced out one second too much.

“I… okay?” he managed to say, unsure.

“Yeah,” his neighbour insisted. “I don’t know if this is some creepy attempt to drop hints at me or something, but if it’s that…”

“Drop… hints?” Prompto repeated, confused.

“Yeah, okay, wrong choice of word I guess…”

Prompto let out a high-pitched, nervous laugh. His brain was trying to convince him he was experiencing some sort of glitch in the matrix.

“Dude, I don’t even know your name. You really think I’m trying to… seduce you? With computer pieces?”

The boy opened his mouth, but then frowned.

“Computer pieces?”

Prompto couldn’t even process anything at this point and simply nodded frantically, hoping this would be enough to get him out of the weirdest conversation of his life. Sure, he didn’t talk to people a lot, but still, this whole situation must be weird by anyone’s standards, right?

Then, the guy put his bag on the counter, pulled a brown box out of it and slammed it next to it. From the shape and his memory, Prompto could already tell it was the GPU he had been eyeing lately. 

His neighbour opened the box and he got confirmation.

But for some reason, the expression on the guy’s face turned to pure, unadulterated horror. 

“I…” he opened his mouth a few times, colours gone from his face. “These were all..?”

“It’s… written on the tag,” Prompto said. 

For a second, he thought the guy was going to faint.

“I need to go,” he simply said, and disappeared outside, leaving the package on the counter.

*

Prompto wasn’t much of a people’s person, but he had friends online. He had gaming partners and the group from the photography forum where he picked up composition tricks, and even a guy he had met through the comment section of a running gear website, at the time he had needed new running shoes. He didn’t need to become acquainted with his neighbour, and he had enough people to rant about the weird events of the day with. And hearing people confirm that the guy sounded nuts made Prompto feel better in no time. It wasn’t just his poor social skills. There was something off about that guy.

This became the subject of conversation of the night as he started a co-op mission with Nyx and Libertus and it still was when Pelna and Crowe joined the voicechat. 

Which is how he suddenly had to deal with a hysterical Crowe, pausing the entire mission as she kept laughing in a way that, in the end, sounded almost forced.

“Oh boy, oh boy, oh I love them when they're so innocent…”

“Crowe, you're evil,” Pelna pointed out.

“What?” Libertus asked, sparing Prompto the hassle of doing it himself. “What is it?”

“Dude, it's the shop down the street next to where we grab pizza, you know?”

“Wait, Prom lives in Insomnia too?” Nyx asked, surprised.

“Ohhh the sex shop one?” Libertus suddenly screamed.

“The What?” Prompto finally managed to say.

“Yeah it's…”

“I'm telling him, I'm telling him!” Crowe screamed. “I love corrupting innocent minds Lib, you can't take it from me!”

“It's a cover for a sex shop,” Pelna offered calmly.

Crowe gasped.

“Traitor!”

“Wait, I don't know that story!” Nyx said, sounding scandalized. 

“How do you not know, dude, it's all Crowe talks about,” Libertus snickered.

“Yeah, Crowe, why did you never tell me?” Nyx insisted.

“Because I'm not discussing sex toys with you, duh.”

“How does Libertus know, then?”

“Now that's a story I won't tell sober.”

“You won't tell ever,” Libertus threatened.

“Okay but what about the sex shop? You can't drop that bomb and then just let us hanging!” Nyx complained.

“Wait a second, dude, I'm searching for the link. I'm sending it in the group chat.”

Prompto saw the notification, and the sound it made put him back in the moment. His friends could be very hard to follow when they were excited, and that subject of conversation in particular left him strangely out of the loop.

A sex-shop????

“Yeah, so that website, they have, like, a bunch of very expensive shit and a lot of really weird fetish stuff, and like, whenever you order stuff they send it incognito… as a hardware package.”

“How do you know that?” Nyx asked

“Wouldn't you like to know,” Crowe sing-songed. 

“I have to admit,” Libertus said, “This website is one of the fanciest I’ve seen. Wonder if I can find the code…” 

“Prom?” Crowe chose that moment to ask. “Still with us?”

“Yeah if you’re talking we don't hear you,” Pelna added.

“I'm here,” he let out a bit weakly. “That's just…” 

He took a deep breath. Holy hell. When had the conversation turned to be that weird? 

“You're telling me that guy knows this website, thinks it's where I bought stuff, and was kinkshaming me?”

“YES,” Crowe claimed before starting to laugh hysterically again.

Prompto almost hit himself with his controller in despair. And he thought he just had met some weird guy! Now not only was he wrong, but now he was the butt of the joke.

“I hate you!” Prompto screamed when he finally took control of his own mind back. “Why are you ruining my life! I will never be able to look at this guy again!” 

“I mean it's not like he wants to talk to you anyway,” Crowe pointed out, sounding way too happy about this.

“Crowe, don't be mean,” Pelna chided.

Prompto didn't listen to her answer, the events of the day replaying in his head as his brain gracefully offered proof that she was right. 

I'm not gay, okay? replayed in his mind with the ominous echo of realization.

“He thinks I'm flirting by sending him sex toys!” he let out with a scream of anguish. “What the fuck! Who even does that!”

“Who knows, maybe he has terrible tastes in men. Girls. Whatever. Maybe he's just used to attract creeps.”

“I hate you so much,” Prompto sighed. 

“Hey, we know you’re a nerd,” Crowe said, sounding a little softer. “Who the fuck cares if that guy can’t handle thinking about you and sex toys in the same sentence. You know what ? He’s missing out. I’m the biggest gay of this side of town and I’d date you, because that’s how amazing you are.”

“You wouldn’t,” Libertus said.

“Well, no, but Nyx would.”

“That's true,” Nyx said, making Prompto frown.

“Nyx would date anyone, that’s not making me feel special.”

“Hey!”

“Alright,” Crowe laughed, “obviously our little Prompto is feeling better. How about we finish that game now?”

That was much easier to deal with than anything else in Prompto’s life right now, so he grabbed his controller back and tried to take back control of his life.

*

His neighbour was avoiding him. 

Maybe it was because Prompto was particularly aware of his existence now, maybe it was also because, with classes starting soon, he had to get out of the house more often on the weekends to get everything ready, but it felt like he was crossing paths with the guy more often and, everytime he did, his neighbour just pretended not to see him.

Not like he wanted to be acknowledged by said neighbour, really. But still, it felt wrong. At least Prompto wanted to justify himself, that he really had no intention of tricking him or anything of the sort, that he was just a nerd who couldn't remember his own address. 

He kinda always wanted to apologize for existing.

*

Now his computer was complete.

Well, all of the pieces were still in their boxes, carefully rewrapped after Prompto had checked them, to protect them from dust and damage. But now he had put his microphone down on the ground so he could talk with his friends while he worked, and everything was laid out before his eyes, waiting for him to get started. 

And then someone knocked on his door.

He sat still, like a rabbit caught in the lights. 

It was too late for anyone normal to want to see him. Nobody ever knocked on his door anyway, even his parents simply texted him when they stopped by, and they never came at this hour. 

From his speakers, Crowe’s voice filled the room.

“That came from your side?”

“Yeah,” Prompto whispered. “I didn’t expect anyone…”

“Uh-oh,” Crowe said, not sounding worried in the slightest. “Your place is fancy, right? Do you have one of those little eye things to see who’s knocking at the door?”

He did. He walked over the door with silent steps to take a look, then quickly shuffled his feet back to where his computer was lying.

“It’s him!” he whisper-screamed into his microphone. 

“Who?” 

“The guy! My neighbour!”

“What, sex toy guy? What’s he doing at your door?”

“I don’t know; it’s not like I’ve talked to him!”

“Well, what are you waiting for?”

“I'm not opening my door to him!”

He didn’t want to know what that guy wanted to him now, on a friday evening, after almost insulting him and then avoiding him for weeks! But he knocked again, and Prompto didn’t know what excuse he could find to justify himself later and… 

And, actually, maybe he wanted to open his door to that guy and have him find all the boxes he’d been received, opened on all the computer pieces Prompto had been ordering.

He cut the microphone and the speakers before opening the door.

“So, this is a bit embarrassing,” his neighbour let out with a smile that had no business being so bright. “But I sort of understood that you're good with computers?”

Prompto raised an eyebrow.

“Look,” the guy sighed, “I know I’ve been a dick, I’ll pay you whatever you want but it’d be really nice if you could check my old thing and make it work before midnight?”

Prompto really wanted to just close the door and let that guy suffer, but he wasn’t that mean, also the whole situation wasn’t exactly his fault, also he knew that kind of look. He saw it up to twenty times a week when exams approached and people needed to finish essays. Obviously that guy wasn’t yet in this situation, but whatever problem he had, it was going to be the end of the world for him if he couldn’t find a solution quickly. 

“I can try,” Prompto answered and he almost had to hide from the brightness of his face.

*

That guy’s flat looked like Prompto’s old bedroom.

He opened his eyes wide to absorb the sight of the shelves filled with comics, the posters on the wall, the magnets on the fridge shaped like little robots, the gaming station on the ground before the tv screen. It made the entire situation even weirder. Why on earth did this nerd not believe that Prompto was actually buying computer parts?

“Dude, is that the Unsung Story promo poster? Like, the crowdfunding reward?”

There was a smile on the guy’s face.

“Yeah I doubled my amount at the last moment to make sure it'll pass. I wanted it so much, that poster looked so cool.”

Prompto felt a spike of anxiety pierce him through.

“Yeah, I mean, it’s…”

The guy laughed.

“You can say it.” 

“Well the game kinda sucks.”

“I know! Like, that inventory manager? Worst thing I’ve ever seen, and I’ve played Project Phoenix.” 

“Hey, Project Phoenix isn’t that hard to deal with. Everyone has just collectively agreed that it was terrible and refuses to try. But you can make it almost usable, not like Usung Story’s.”

“Okay, well, I’ll double your pay if you can teach me your ways, but first, you need to repair my shitty computer.”

The shitty computer turned out to be perfectly acceptable, actually, although noisy and a bit slow. It probably needed a good cleaning but that wasn’t Prompto’s problem. Prompto’s problem was that the weird conflicts between the GPU and plug-ins that caused the screen to turn itself off every ten minutes. 

He grumbled to himself for a few minutes at first but then silence fell as he found his way inside the code. Then, he heard his neighbour ask:

“Hey, you want a beer?”

And a snort escaped his lips, making him turn his eyes away from the computer screen for a moment.

“You’d trust me on your computer with alcohol?”

His neighbour shrugged.

“Dude, you’re like, the only person who can save it. I’d trust you with a blindfold.”

Prompto tried to not look too pleased by the information. 

“I’m just reinstalling you a bunch of compatible stuff, it’s not like I’m parting the sea.”

“Still.” The guy put the can of beer in Prompto’s hand. “It’s more than I could do myself, so. Thanks.”

Prompto took the beer, if only to keep himself occupied.

“What do you have to do before midnight that needed your computer to work, though? “

The guy made a face.

“Okay, this is going to sound stupid and awful, but… you’ve heard of Nightmarchers?”

“No?”

“I’ll show you, then. It’s a game—well, not yet, but the crowdfunding stops tonight. And they’re like, five thousands short on their goal.” 

“That sounds like a lot to raise in one evening.”

“Yeah. So I thought… I’ll just send them the money they need right before midnight.”

Prompto turned to look at the guy as he scrolled through his history.

“You can do that?”

They exchanged a look.

“Yeah? My family is… like, very rich. I do that a lot, actually. What?” 

“Nothing, I just… dude, I should have befriended you so much sooner. You know how much it cost me to build a computer from scratch?”

The guy burst out laughing.

“Okay, I have to tell you, though. I mean, the store you bought them from…”

“I know, I… I found out. It’s fine.”

“I just never meant someone who actually used that store for its regular business, you know? Honestly, I still can’t believe these boxes were all computer pieces. Like, there wasn’t even one sex-toy in it? Not even a small one?”

“You got it wrong from the start, dude. I’m just a geek.”

“Yeah, and geeks don’t get laid, so like, that was logical, right?”

“That’s… okay, it’s true, but, still! Why did you immediately think I was… buying weird stuff, also, seducing you? Is that a thing rich people do?”

“I’m sorry! I just… every time you look at me with your big puppy eyes I just… forget how normal humans behave, I don’t know…”

There were so many things in this sentence that made Prompto feel uneasy but he went for the easiest part.

“I don’t have puppy eyes.”

“Uh, yeah dude. You look like I’m gonna hit you, like, every time. You’re looking like that right now.”

“I’m not!”

“Yeah you are and it’s becoming increasingly difficult to not laugh at you—ouch! Hey!”

It wasn’t a real protest, but Prompto still felt dumb for trying to elbow the guy in the ribs, and he didn’t put much of a fight. There was something… strange, now, about being there with that guy. 

Prompto was the one who didn’t know how to talk to people and hated looking at them. Prompto was the dumb guy who always stayed inside. And when he managed to be friend with someone, it was because the others were actually competent at being friends with people, so that made at least one person who knew what they were doing.

But him and his neighbour were… the same, apparently. 

He drank another gulp of beer.

“I mean, it’s not a bad thing,” his neighbour added after a beat. “I could get used to it.”

He coughed beer all over his knees. Oh, no, not a compliment now. How was he supposed to deal with that?

“Wow, are you okay?”

There was a hand against Prompto’s back as he tried to breathe, a calm and comforting touch that was also very hard to not melt under, because Prompto had not let another human being touch him for… years, maybe, and why the fuck was he thinking about that now? And he forced himself to take deep breaths and calm down, if anything, just so he could ask that guy to never touch him again.

“You know what I just noticed? I actually have no idea what your name is.”

That was a good distraction. If he could, he would have high-fived himself.

The boy smiled and offered Prompto his hand.

“I'm Noctis.”

His hand was soft, the grip firm, and Prompto was definitely not thinking about it anywhere on his touch deprived body.

*

At midnight, Prompto watched Noctis spend three months of rent into a game that had only fifty percent chances to see the light of day and sighed dramatically during the entire process. Noctis laughed at him. They had been discussing all evening and that guy was incredibly down to earth for a rich guy. He was also fucking adorable.

He accompanied Prompto back to the door of his own apartment just a few meters away.

“Let me invite you out some time,” he spurted as Prompto opened his door. “To compensate for basically calling you a creep in public.”

“Oh, uh, well…” at this point, Prompto had a bit of a hard time putting words in the right order. It was kind of late for him; he’d been up early in the morning to go for a run. “Okay, if you want. But you don’t need to pay me for the computer, that was… just fun.”

Noctis smiled bright again, too bright for past midnight, honestly.

“Good to know. I’ll come knock on your door for lunch tomorrow then.”

Prompto waved at him before closing his door and immediately felt like an idiot.

Didn’t that guy tell him straight up how hetero he was? 

He was fucked. 

As he turned around to the pieces of his soon-to-be computer still on the ground, he noticed the green blinking light of the standby mode on his old computer's screen, and it sent phim into panic mode.

Crowe!

“I can’t fucking believe you muted me for the entire evening,” was her first sentence as Prompto reconnected his own mic. “You better have a good explanation for that because…”

“I’m so sorry! Noctis… my neighbour needed help with his computer, I thought it was going to be quick…”

“Weird sex toy guy? You’re on a first name basis with him now?”

“Well, we talked… he’s kinda nice, actually…”

“So you ditched me to hang out with him?”

“I forgot! I’m sorry!”

Crowe sighed, which translated into a mechanical crackling into the speakers.

“Don’t worry dude, I’m just messing with you. It’s cool if you can be on good terms with that dude. I think. Honeslty I’m tired and still a bit pissed so I’m not gonna stay around if you still want to build your pc…”

“Nah, go to sleep; it’s fine. I’m seeing Noctis tomorrow anyway so I can’t pull an all-nighter either.”

“Alright, have fun on your date, loser.”

“I still like you, you know.”

“Hey, me too.”

It was only once Prompto had cleaned his living room and gone to bed that he realized.

What had she said?

*

“Didn’t that guy like, straight up tell you he wasn’t gay?”

Pelna’s still sleepy voice in the speakers did not help Prompto feel better. He was still only half dressed in the middle of his living room, trying to decide if dressing up to meet his neighbour was the right course of action, or if he was just overreacting.

For the first time in his life, it didn’t help, having friends that he never really hung out with.

“Yeah, but that was when he thought I was shipping sex toys to his door.”

“Yeah like, I would lie too if someone was pulling something like that on me,” Crowe insisted.

“You’re not helping him,” Pelna sighed. 

“I totally am!” Crowe protested. “Without me he’d still be thinking his neighbour is just some sort of weird, nerd-hating loser. Now he has a crush. I’m definitely counting that as an improvement in their relationship.”

“Then let him make a friend that isn’t you without freaking him out.”

“You stay up all evening talking about shitty video games with your friends?”

“Huh, yeah? Actually? That’s what we do, like, every evening of the week?”

“Okay but I’m the biggest lesbian this side of town so it doesn’t count, nothing could ever happen between us…”

“Neither between Prompto and a straight guy, and… are you implying that you think I’m trying to hit on you?”

“Okay, guys, I’m kicking you out,” Libertus announced and the next second, Prompto’s living room had become peaceful and quiet again. “Phew. Didn’t know Pelna could be so protective. Did you see that coming? I should have a talk with him, don’t you think?”

“I… probably?” Prompto shrugged. “I mean, it’s fine, he was just trying to help… and he’s right, I’m probably overreacting… I mean, it’s Crowe, after all…”

“Yeah,” Libertus laughed. “She gets excited very fast.”

From his side, Prompto could hear the sound of the notifications that probably meant she was already asking Libertus to put her back on the server. He smiled a little.

“So I should just relax, right?”

“You definitely need to do that. But not because you’re being an idiot. More like… didn’t you say he has seen you come back from your runs?”

“Yeah?”

“So he’s seen you all gross and sweaty already. Don’t take your clothes too much to heart, okay?”

That was… surprisingly good advice coming from him.

“Come on, you wanna work on your computer a little to distract yourself? I can explain you the motherboard connectors better than Crowe ever could.”

 

Which was how Prompto found himself sitting on the floor in just a t-shirt with a half-built computer when he heard the knock on the door.

“Shit,” he let out, feeling all the panic catch up with him instantly. “Shit shit shit shit shit,” he scrambled on his feet, searching around as if proper clothes were going to magically appear. 

“Prompto?” Libertus called, before swearing himself. “Oh, I didn’t watch the time, sorry…” 

“What do I do?” 

“Breathe,” Libertus ordered. “It’s fine. Just find some clothes and don’t think too much, okay?”

Easier said than done, but Prompto breathed deeply, swallowed the lump in his throat, and ran to his bedroom to find pants. 

Noctis smiled when he opened the door and asked “did I wake you up?” and Prompto instinctively touched at his hair, wondering if he should lie and say that he was sleeping, or if he was going to sound lazy.

“I was… no, I was just… building my PC to pass the time, and I got carried away…”

“Oh, do you want to reschedule?” Noctis instantly offered, like lying on the ground connecting electronic parts was a thing that shouldn’t be interrupted. “We don’t even have to go out, I just suggested…”

“No it’s fine! Let’s do… whatever you want, it’s fine…” 

Noctis shook his head, laughing a little, and Prompto forced himself to breathe deeply again. 

“I don’t want to force you into anything… we can order food and eat it there… I’d like to see your computer, actually.” 

Prompto wondered if staying inside meant he didn’t have to worry about his clothes—that guy was insanely rich after all, right? What if going out meant something fancier than Prompto was prepared for?

“I… okay. Let’s do that. Sushis?”

Noctis nodded with a large smile.

“I actually have a flyer from a very good place at my flat, I’ll go find it and be back in five minutes, okay?”

 

When he came back, Prompto realized that he had changed from his shirt to a t-shirt and hoodie, and he felt strangely relieved, while, at the same time, absolutely terrified that Noctis had actually made an effort to dress up to meet with him. 

Food, luckily, had the ability to efficiently distract him from his own thoughts. Ordering it already helped with the beating of his heart and by the time it arrived at the door, he didn’t even know why he was worried about the date-not-date.

Noctis was just some guy who happened to also like weird games he found on the Internet, and apparently really interested when Prompto started spouting all the technical bullshit that he didn’t know about. He looked at all his game library and commented on all the titles he knew, and on all the posters Prompto had on the walls, and then on his movie collection, and then they were here for four hours. 

Noctis was just nice, and it felt good to be here with him. 

The sex-toy debacle felt centuries ago when Noctis clapped his hands and asked:

“So, are you gonna show me that new computer finished or what?”

Prompto shrugged, a little embarrassed but too happy to have been able to actually monologue about computers with someone who didn’t look bored out of his skull. “You want to see me connecting cables?”

“Well, I was involved in the process, sort of, so you owe it to me now.”

Prompto laughed.

“If you say so. I need to call a friend to help me, though.”

“Damn, and here I was, thinking you were some kind of genius.” 

“Yeah, you can talk, mister I can’t install the right plug-ins by myself.”

“Bold words from someone who got his own address wrong, several times.”

“Oh, fuck you.”

They were still laughing when Prompto called Libertus and introduced the two to one another, which went smoothly because Libertus wasn’t Crowe and didn’t make any inappropriate comment on Prompto’s sexuality, or lack thereof. 

And Noctis, it appeared, was a true gentleman and there was no talk about sex-toys at all. 

Noctis asked a billion questions when Prompto entered the boot menu, guided by Libertus. It was the best day of Prompto’s entire life and it was becoming increasingly hard to not just beam at him and pull him into a hug for making up for years of embarrassed excuses and bad self-confidence. At some point, Prompto gave up and stared at him in awe while Libertus was giving a ten minutes long explanation on overclocking, and Noctis ended up snorting in laughter.

“Dude. You gotta stop with the puppy eyes, seriously.”

Prompto huffed to hide his sudden panic. “I’m not giving you puppy eyes!”

“You are. Lib, I swear, he’s making puppy eyes. I don’t know what to do.”

“There’s nothing you can do once he’s pulled out the pretty face,” Libertus very solemnly said. “I’ve only seen it once but it’s a truly powerful weapon.”

“Guys!”

“Should I leave you alone?” Libertus asked, which made Noctis smirk and, consequently, significantly increased Prompto’s heartbeat. 

“Yeah,” Noctis breathed, leaning a little closer.

“What do you mean,” Prompto started, but as he turned his head to the monitor, Libertus had already left the call, and then Noctis was really really close to him and

_Oh_

How his lips were soft and barely touching his own, and it felt like Prompto was going to explode, and then he kissed him so gently and before he could stop himself Prompto had the sides of his hoodie in a death grip and a tongue in his mouth.

“Y-you said you weren’t gay,” he breathed when his remaining brain cells rewired correctly.

“Yeah, because I’m a dumbass,” Noctis answered in a raspy voice before kissing him again. “I mean,” he added later, “thinking about you and sex-toys for weeks, didn’t exactly help being really smooth in front of you…”

Prompto felt really dumb right after that confession, when the only thing that managed to escape his lips was a very nervous laugh.

“Sorry, was it weird?”

“Just… too much. Way too much. I don’t… want to hear about sex toys for… at least until our first date.”

Noctis straightened back, looking at Prompto with confusion all over his face.

“Isn’t this our first date?”

*

“So I was right,” Crowe said with a voice so smug Prompto could see her face.

“Shut up,” he mumbled, blushing hard and smiling like an idiot.

“Invite him to our game night one of these days,” Nyx added with the same kind of tone.

“You guys can’t behave, it’s not happening.”

“Like you’re really better at this and didn’t score a boyfriend in the weirdest way possible.”

“Leave him alone, guys,” Pelna sighed. “Prompto will introduce him to us when he’s ready.”

“He still gotta introduce him at a—”

“Crowe I’m kicking you out!” Libertus announced loud enough to cover her voice. 

“Thanks,” Prompto said. “Okay, I love you guys but I’ve got to run.” He smiled to himself as he stood up from his chair. “We’re having our first date today.”


End file.
